Why the Batman in 'Dawn of Justice' is Going to Be The Best Batman on Film to Date

Currently a senior at Rutgers University, I am a Communications Major with a focus in Journalism and Media Studies, as well as minoring in E

Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" is considered the first modern blockbuster, and has since influenced Hollywood's modern marketing and development techniques of the superhero film genre. Ever since then, the Batman has had a strangle hold on American pop culture, appearing on a multitude of different mediums and platforms since. Since the release of Burton's Batman, there been feature films, animated films, animated television shows, comic books, graphic novels, and video games. Yet, despite all these different versions and re-tellings, the final product of all of them always seems to result in some sort of watered down version of the Batman. Yes, this even includes the acclaimed Dark Knight Trilogy, because even though they did a phenomenal job capturing the essence and the idea of the Batman, they were not as successful in portraying his skills and personality.

5. The Batsuit.

Finally! The grey Batsuit makes its cinematic debut. As a life-long Batman fan, I can truly say that I have been waiting for this literally my entire life. Everyone that loves Batman knows that grey is his true look; in fact, an all-black Batsuit is rarely, if ever, seen in the comics. Whether it be in the graphic novels such as The Dark Knight Returns or The Long Halloween, or in the ground breaking cartoon Batman: The Animated Series, a grey Batsuit has always been Batman's go to look. The suit Ben Affleck is going to wear in [Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice](tag:711870) looks to be the most faithful adaptation of the Dark Knight's ensemble to date.

4. He is going to truly kick ass.

The films in The Dark Knight Trilogy are considered the best Batman movies to date, however, one of the biggest criticisms of the trilogy, and Christoper Nolan's directing as a whole, were the action sequences. The only decent look we get at Batman brawling comes during the two climatic fight scenes with Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Other than that, it is a bunch of quick camera cuts, sneak attacks, and dark corner, never really showing us how much ass The Dark Knight is truly kicking. Alas, Batman vs Superman aims to solve those problems, with the fight coordinator of the film, Guillermo Grispo, having this to say:

Now Batman is going to fight the way I've always dreamed seeing him fight. He's a character so prepared in martial arts that you can do a lot of things with him, but filmmakers usually don't go all the way with it. Even in the last Nolan movies the action scenes aren't very good from a technical , martial arts point of view to things like choreography, filming, bad camera movements.

Even his biggest critics will admit, Zack Synder can direct an action sequence. Hopefully that remains true in 'Batman vs Superman', which will allow Batman to be seen in his ultimate form as a fighter and warrior. Also, Synder has said many times that while not a direct adaptation, 'Batman v. Superman' is drawing influence from Frank Miller's 'The Dark Knight Returns' which introduced a more violent, ruthless Batman. Considering these two factors, and based on the newly released trailer, it looks like fans may finally get the cinematic Dark Knight they've been waiting for.

3. The Dark Knight Returns Influence

There are a handful of Batman stories that are generally considered to be the best in Batman's history: Year One, The Long Halloween, The Killing Joke, and Knightfall. However, on all of these "Essential Dark Knight Reads" lists, the same graphic novel is almost always number one; The Dark Knight Returns. Before director Zack Synder was even remotely involved in anything Batman related, he had this to say at the Watchmen panel at 2008 Comic Con:

There are a lot of other graphic novels out there, but I would love to see Frank Miller’s Dark Knight made into a movie, but that’s just me.

Even as recently as a couple of weeks ago, during the Dawn Of Justice panel at Comic Con Zack Synder confirmed the influence of The Dark Knight Returns by saying:

There has been a lot of talk about my, sort of, love of a particular comic book, which is The Dark Knight Returns. A comic book that I love and that I definitely homage a lot in the movie as a way of saying to Frank Miller '"you're a genius and I think that book is genius"

The reason that this particular version of Batman is so widely revered by fans is his more aggressive than usual attitude towards crime-fighting. While he does not quite do it, he comes within an inch of killing both The Mutant Leader and The Joker. Combined with his previously mentioned immersive and brutal fighting style, a more ruthless attitude is going to make Synder's version of The Batman the most bad-ass version yet.

See what I mean, ruthless!

2. The Technology is Ready

Before Batman Begins, the technology was just not ready for a proper Batman movie. Not to the fault of the filmmakers, the practical and special effect technology was simply not where they needed to be. While The Dark Knight trilogy has it's fair share of special effects, almost none of them involve Batman doing Batman like things. Grappling from building to building, bursting through windows, lighting up the Batsig... oh wait... it looks like that's exactly what we're finally going to get! I'll let GIFs do the talking.

Just look at some of these shots!

So.

Damn.

AWESOME!!!

1. The Pressure Is On

Everybody knows that DC is late to the cinematic superhero universe world. You know who's more aware of that than anybody? DC. The pressure is on, and they know it. Given the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans all across the globe are expecting the same from DC. Given that it can be argued that DC has the more recognizable characters, the pressure is even greater. Due to audiences greater knowledge of and care for characters as legendary as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, these films are open to more criticisms. For example, how many of the casual movie goers even knew Thor's origin well enough to know if Marvel had done it correctly or not? The same applies for their other movies, such as Guardians of the Galaxy and

Ant-Man. Marvel has essentially been playing with house money due to the fact that their films are not being held to any previous opinions or standards.

With all that said, so far, DC has appeared to gotten one thing right; the same thing they (almost- I'm looking at you Batman Forever and Batman & Robin) always get right, their ace in the hole; The Batman. DC knows that Batman is where their bread is buttered, and if their newly established 'DCEU' stands any chance, they know they must nail their interpretation of Batman. Their first intelligent move was making their Batman as seasoned veteran, having been protecting Gotham for something like twenty years. Right then and their, DC opened a whole new door of possibilities, most of which have never taken advantage of on film: Batman is going to have an established history with all of the characters in his world. Just think about that: we're going to see a Batman that has a TWENTY YEAR RELATIONSHIP with The Joker. Given that fact, the potential interactions between Batman and The Joker, and all of his rogues, are going to have a whole new dimension of complexity never seen on film before. And of course, they hired an Academy Award winner to direct Batman's next solo outing, Ben Affleck. With his brief, yet stellar filmography in the directors chair, fans can't help but get excited to know that DC might actually know they're doing after all.

Poll

Which is your favorite cinematic Batman experience?

Batman (1989)

Batman Returns

Batman Forever

Batman & Robin

Batman Begins

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight Rises

Batman v. Superman (so far)

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